Everything old is new again.

We all love a little nostalgia. 

Since the announcement of the introduction of TT:120, I have been spending some time going through the wonderful Railway Modeller archive, (courtesy of the app and my subscription). I’ve been reading articles from the days of the introduction of the original TT-3 scale. 

There’s a lot of good information out there. Even though it’s up to 70 years old, and there’s the scale discrepancy between TT-3 (3mm:1ft) and TT:120 (2.54mm:1ft). 

Back then, track plans and structure drawings were reproduced in the new scale. The grids on track plans came with the handy-dandy, easy conversion rule of thumb that, if a grid square on a track plan was one foot in 00, then it was two feet in O scale and six inches in N. (I’m sure many of us can recall that).TT-3 was listed as being a nine inch grid. Today, I think TT:120 would be a 7 1/2” inch grid.

Then there are articles. From legendary modellers of the past. People like Doris Stokes and Edward Beal. These are an absolute treasure trove whatever scale you model in, and are well worth subscribing to the digital edition of Railway Modeller for. In one issue from the 1960’s I found, nestled between articles from Stokes and Beal, articles from Peter Denny, describing the construction of his Leighton Buzzard Linslade layout. A Model Railway layout that was a classic of its time. 

It was a small branch line terminus layout designed as a part of his Buckingham Great Central magnum opus. But it was also designed to fold up and be portable to go to exhibitions. It was built in 4mm scale (EM Gauge) and was just under six feet in length and might make a really nice, small layout in TT:120. Something to consider when planning a layout perhaps. A nod to the past and a look to the future. 

Something else I enjoyed doing, was checking out what the prices of the items were when released originally. Locomotives, wagons, track and suchlike. Comparisons between the costs of things then and today are pretty pointless, but it is fun. Especially since England changed from the old pound, shillings and pence to decimal in February 1971. In 1960, The Triang Brush Type 2 (class 31), was two pounds, 12 shillings and sixpence. About fifty-three pounds in today’s money. I bet the Hornby Brush type 2 isn’t fifty-three quid when it’s released. Incidentally, I recently saw an original Triang Brush type 2 for sale on that well known auction site for £183. I’m hoping the new Hornby version isn’t that price!

The one thing that is clear from all the articles though, is that people were as excited about TT-3 back in the 1950’s as we are excited about TT:120 today. It just shows things never change.

Everything old IS new again. 

The road ahead

 So, we have some great models, track and scenic accessories coming or are here. Just what are my plans for them? 

As I mentioned in a previous post there probably won’t be anything in the immediate future. Not until next year at the earliest. I have other layouts to get ready for shows, and more relevantly, the items that I will probably want aren’t available yet. 

But that doesn’t stop me thinking, coming up with a concept. Some kind of plan. That helps to make things go faster when I get around to construction. So in the meantime I’m sure I’ll come up with plenty of concepts and schemes before I plump for one.

There’s lots of other things to consider too. I posted earlier about how I scratch built all the buildings for a previous layout. They were all made from card and meticulously hand scribed to represent stone. I’d like to make all my layout structures again. Not only because I enjoy it so much, but also living in the USA, anything British outline has to pretty much come from the UK. There’s a couple of retailers in Canada I have used in the past. But otherwise it’s mail order or a visit to a local hobby shop when I go home for a visit. 

Nowadays I use a lot of embossed styrene. What’s available to me from Evergreen and Plastruct to enable me to make a start?  Like siding to model a signal box or small station building for example. 

I know that with a lot of their building accessories like stairs, hand rails and ladders. Plastruct list a nominal scale. With their stairs and handrails, for example. I have used the same product on my 1:87 H0 scale and 1:72 00 scale structures. Yet if you look on the package it says the product is 1:100 scale. Just what is it? Is it 1:100? In which case it might pass for 1:120 scale. I’m inclined to think it’s better suited for 00 and H0 scale. 

However, with embossed sheets I’m inclined to think I might find something very near to what I would need for projects. If not exactly to scale. There’s an absolute plethora of different types of sheets in different sizes for different purposes. I’m going to have to do some digging to find out.

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

When you see the label “Opinion” on a post you’ll know it’s just a rambling stream of consciousness that might not make any sense at all…  

Well that didn’t last long. I woke up this morning to the announcement that Heljan are ceasing the production of their proposed range of TT:120 locomotives due to duplication of models proposed by Hornby. 

Heljan had released CAD renderings of the Class 31 back in June, when PECO made their initial announcement and had proposed the 08 shunter and (I think) a J94 as well. Hornby’s initial announcement included the Class 08 as available immediately. With the class 31 the J94 in later phases of the initial 5 year plan. 

Heljan make very nice, high quality models. I have the Waggon und Maschinenbau Railbus in 00 and it’s a belter of a model, so I was looking forward to the 31. But as they rightly point out in their press release. As of now this is an untried new scale. There are no guarantees of success for anyone, and duplicating items is an unnecessary risk for all involved. 

Hornby jumped in with both feet with a complete range, as an established train set manufacturer has the ability to do. So it does make Heljans efforts look rather half-hearted, and I wonder why they did it in the first place. Why did they announce just locomotives on the back of PECO’s announcement?  When PECO made their announcement I honestly believed that a major manufacturer was not far behind with a huge announcement. Heljan’s was not the one. 

If I had been in the Heljan boardroom. I would have pushed on with production of the Class 31 to make sure it came out before the Hornby version, which could still be a couple of years away yet. Release it in Green and Pre-TOPS Blue to be at home hauling the coaches and wagons Hornby are releasing, then maybe work on a Class 20 or 25. Perhaps even a DMU. No duplication there. 

We know these are tough times financially and this is a big investment for anyone. So we hope for great success for Hornby, and that Simon Kohlers enthusiasm for TT:120 is vindicated and more manufacturers will join in.

Who am I?

 That’s a fair question. Most of you know me and my never ending series of model railway blogs that detail all my projects and schemes. For those of you coming in from the TT world. Here’s a few short words of introduction.

I’m Ian. I’m an ex-pat Brit who has lived in the USA for almost 25 years. I am the editor of The Micro Model Railway Dispatch and Co-host of Cartel Conversations The Micro Model Railroad podcast. So you can guess that my interests lie in designing, building and operating smaller model railway layouts. 

That’s why I’m excited by TT:120. In his interview at the release of the Hornby range, Simon Kohler the Marketing and Development Director at Hornby made multiple mentions of the space saving qualities of TT. Now, the layout that was sat behind them during the interview video was larger than the four square foot limit of Micro Layouts, but Simon also talked about end to end layouts on window sills. That’s when my ears really pricked up. A nice terminus to fiddle yard layout in your window. Super! 

Micro layout builders such as myself often build layouts in cabinets and boxes for ease of storage. These can be left on bookshelves, making an attractive addition to a room. So TT:120 really has a lot to offer for the world of Micro Layouts. As a serial Micro Layout builder, I have several projects on the go at one time, and work on them as inspiration and time constraints allow. I'm currently refurbishing an old IKEA APA box layout ready for Trainfest in Milwaukee in November. After that I have a 16mm scale micro layout to work on ready for a show in St Cloud, MN next year. After that. Who knows?

In the beginning

There was Derek.

That was his name. I’ve forgotten his surname now. But Derek introduced me to TT. The old TT. The Triang-Hornby TT. This was back in the mid-1980’s, so TT had been consigned to the scrap heap of history for 20 years or so then. I wasn’t even born when TT was first released. 

Derek was having a clear out and sold me some old bound volumes of Railway Modeller from the 1970’s, and one evening I went round to pick them up. He had a vast collection of old Triang-Hornby TT and was passionate about it. He enthused about many things. But when he talked about TT his eyes lit up, and he would laugh and chuckle as he told you stories about his experiences with the scale. I was curious about TT and he showed me some of his collection. This was pretty basic stuff even by 1980’s standards. But when I placed that locomotive in my hand, something was triggered in my brain. The size and feel. It was, there’s no other way to put it, “just right”. I was immediately captivated.  Generous to a fault, he gave me some of his duplicates. A Jinty, some wagons, some track. Enough to make a start. 

One of the volumes of Railway Modeller he sold me contained articles on Stan Roberts Bakewell layout. This was a great model railway and there was a full set of drawings of all the railway buildings in articles spread over the year. You guessed it. I built them all in TT for the layout I was going to build. It wasn’t going to be Bakewell, just a small town branch line terminus using the buildings. I was so fired up by the project. I joined the 3mm scale society. I built all the buildings over a summer holiday. 

Then life and the reality of the project got in the way. The track I had was showing its age. I needed to build track. Should I build it in 3mm scale? I’d need to do a whole load of re-wheeling, scratch building of stock and such like to build my layout. With no experience in any of these elements of the hobby, momentum came to a grinding halt and I never thought about going back.

Until June this year, when PECO announced their TT:120 track. My interest was definitely piqued. All the memories came flooding back. I immediately asked myself, “What’s going on?” PECO wouldn’t be making all this effort for themselves. I wondered who would follow suit. Heljan are dipping their toes in the water with the announcement and pre-production pictures of the Class 31 (Brush Type 2 A1A A1A) loco. One of the first diesels made by Triang and a favourite of mine. But it still wasn’t much.

Then on Monday October 17th Hornby landed their news like the Incredible Hulk having jumped off a skyscraper. A whole range of train sets, locomotives, coaches, wagons, track, buildings. The whole nine yards. Now I was excited. 

I immediately thought about returning to the world of TT. Being an ex-Pat Brit in the USA, modelling the railway scene of the home country is always fraught with problems. Buying items can be very difficult. There are only a few select retailers in North America selling British outline stock. I very often end up buying little items when I go back to the UK to visit. Hornby are doing things differently with TT:120. You order directly from them. No retailer to go through. Right now that seems like a very good idea, and a bold move. Perhaps postage charges will be too much. I don’t know yet. 

Right now I’m just enjoying being excited by TT again, and we will see where this blog and experience goes. Those who know me know I’m a prolific model railway blogger. Each layout, failed or successful, has a blog. This is no different. Hop on and come for a ride.

A statement of intent.

 This blog has been opened for the purpose of musings about the prospects of building a micro model railway in the new TT:120 scale. 

Hopefully a layout will be the result.